PARIS takes no prisoners. That's why I have a love/hate relationship with her.
One minute, you are in the City of Love, having the most magical night of your life; the next, you have come back down to earth with a thud and are cursing the moment you stepped off the train.
Our second visit to Paris this trip certainly was a case of high highs and low lows.
We arrived early evening to our accommodation at Beaugency Hotel and decided to walk a few blocks to picnic in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower.
We picked up supplies at a convenience store along the way.
For the next four hours, we drank cheap but good red wine out of the bottle (well, there were no plastic cups to buy and we're Aussies after all!), shared a salad and ham/cheese/tomato sandwiches and a big bag of potato chips.
But the bonus was of course La Tour Eiffel.
We stared and stared at her. From the going down of the sun and the turning on of each section of golden lights, to the amazing sparkle effect on the hour from 9pm.
We must have been two of a thousand enjoying the same friendly, happy mood this Friday night in the French capital.
The next morning warranted a sleep-in and lazy contemplation of the day ahead.
Should we do the massive Louvre museum or tackle The Marais district - both of which we had missed the first time around.
In the end, we decided to head to the next hotel, where we were to pick up our Globus 15-day "circumnavigation" of France and store our luggage before getting back on the Metro for the Marais.
Bad move.
Despite being so careful for a month-and-a-half and probably still being a little drunk on atmosphere from the night before, we became a little blasé.
That's what pickpockets count on.
They target the weak, the stupid, the old, the young, the tired, the careful people who have momentary lapses in concentration. Anyone, really.
A large man who wouldn't move aside as we entered a train ... a light bump from behind that was an annoyance rather than an alarm bell ... The sudden realisation minutes later that a wallet was missing ... The feeling of dread that you've been "had" ...
For two hours, we somehow had to put our anger and frustration aside and remember what was missing, where to find the credit card photocopies, the numbers for the international stolen card services.
OMG. Welcome (back) to Paris.
We have heard all the stories. We have heard the PA announcements telling us to beware. We have joked about the dangers. We are now victims and are once bitten, twice shy of ever becoming complacent again.
Luckily, an employee at the Metro at St Jacques helped settle our nerves and listened to our problem, while our Marriott Paris Rive Gauche Hotel was very sympathetic, and the business centre attendant dialled the numbers for free and made our dilemna that much more bearable.
The rest of the day was spent in the hotel room recovering and getting ready for our next adventures in Paris aboard the Globus La France tour.
C'est la vie!
Lesson of the day: Don't let one bad experience spoil your trip.
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